Moody’s, S&P lobbying spending on rise

Employees of both credit-rating firms favor Democrats, data show

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Moody’s Corp. and the parent company of Standard & Poor’s have spent increasingly more money to lobby the U.S. government in recent years, data from a money-in-politics research group show, and political contributions from individuals connected to both companies are heavily tilted toward Democrats.

McGraw-Hill Cos.
MHP, +0.00%
, the parent company of S&P, spent $600,000 through June 30 on lobbying, data from the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics shows. Moody’s
MCO, +0.17%
tab is a bit more, at $610,000.

S&P earned the ire of the Obama administration after downgrading the United States’s rating late Friday from AAA to AA+. The Senate Banking Committee is collecting information about S&P’s decision to downgrade the U.S. rating, and the possibility of holding a hearing is on the table. On Monday, President Barack Obama himself took a thinly veiled swipe at the agency.

“No matter what some agency may say, we’ve always been and always will be a triple-A country,” Obama said in brief remarks at the White House.See story on Obama remarks.

In recent years, McGraw-Hill has lobbied on issues related to the oversight of credit-rating agencies; banking and financial services; and Dodd-Frank financial reform implementation, records compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics show. Records about Moody’s show the firm has lobbied on financial market regulation for the past several years.

McGraw-Hill says that its credit-rating activities and lobbying are separated by a strict “firewall.”

“Our analysts convey independent opinions about creditworthiness to the market using rigorous analytical criteria. Our lobbyists express views about public policy to the government. There is a strict firewall that separates the two — always has been, always will be,” said spokeswoman Patti Rockenwagner in an emailed statement.

A spokesman for Moody’s said the company maintains “a strict separation” between its commercial and analytical activities.

“Lobbying or other commercial activities do not play any role in the ratings process,” said spokesman Michael Adler.

Meanwhile, S&P is likely to face increased scrutiny from Congress and outside groups in the wake of its decision. On Monday, Senate Banking Committee chair Tim Johnson, a South Dakota Democrat, called the downgrade an “irresponsible move.”

Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for the nonpartisan advocacy group Public Citizen, argued that the credit-rating agencies should be treated as quasi-governmental organizations and shouldn’t be lobbying.

“They should not be spending private money to try to influence governmental decisions,” said Holman.

When it comes to political contributions, S&P employees and their family members have largely favored Democrats over a roughly 20-year period. From 1989-2010, S&P employees and their family members made nearly $120,000 in total contributions — with 82% of that going to Democrats, according to data compiled by the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation.

Over almost the same time period (1991-2010), Moody’s employees and their families gave close to $113,200 to candidates, but weren’t as generous to Democrats. Sixty-four percent of those contributions went to Democrats, with the No. 1 recipient being President Obama. Obama was also the biggest recipient of money from S&P employees, netting more than $22,000. Moody’s employees gave Obama $15,155.

While individuals’ contributions may represent a small amount in the overall pool of political campaign coffers, both companies’ spending on lobbying is bigger. Last year, McGraw-Hill spent $1.65 million on lobbying, up from $1.5 million in 2009. The company has spent more than $1 million a year on lobbying since 2004, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Moody’s, meanwhile, isn’t far behind its ratings-agency rival in lobbying spending. In 2010, Moody’s spent $1.53 million, up from the $1.24 million in spent in 2009.

Moody’s and Fitch, another rating agency, haven’t downgraded the U.S. debt rating. Moody’s has warned it may downgrade the U.S. in the future, however, and Fitch said Monday that it expects to finish its review of U.S. sovereign credit ratings by the end of August.

Fitch, which is majority-owned by France’s Fimalac (FIM) , has spent much less on lobbying than its rival agencies. It spent $220,000 in the first quarter of the year and just $440,000 for all of 2010.

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